Promising Kisses
by QueenY C
Summary: As the war looms ahead and the world is caving in, four young lovers find solace in one last dance and one last, promising kiss. Rated for just a bit of mature language.
1. People Like Us

**Story: **Promising Kisses

**Author: **QueenyC

**Summary: **As the war looms ahead and the world is caving in, four young lovers find solace in one last dance and one last, promising kiss.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot and even that isn't terribly original. 

**Chapter One**

**People Like Us**

The Burrow had been a veritable bee-hive of activity from the moment she'd arrived, clutching a travel bag to her chest. After a week of visiting with Harry at the Dursley's he had insisted that she and Ron both go home to their parents and spend some time with them. "You have to explain to them what we're doing," he'd said. "They have to be okay with it if we're going to pull this off."

She'd tried, she really had, to stress to her parents the importance of what she was about to do with her two best friends. She'd tried to make them see that not getting involved was not even an option for her anymore. Like Harry often did, they wouldn't understand that she couldn't stay behind. She couldn't watch, couldn't wait, couldn't worry over some small black envelope which would signify the end of her world. A tear streaked down her cheek at the memory of that talk with her parents.

"It seems to me that we've had nothing but trouble since you started at that school!" Her father had shouted. "This is nonsense Hermione, you're only seventeen! I forbid you to go gallivanting off with these boys looking for cursed souls and fighting evil wizards! It's madness!"

"But Daddy-"

"No," Her mother had said, much calmer than her father but still stern, "You're father is right, Hermione. This is ridiculous. You're still a child, _our_ child, and we won't allow you to go."

"Mum...Dad, I'm sorry, butyou can't stop me." Hermione had whispered, knowing how much she was about to hurt her parents. "This is my choice. I'm legally an adult in the Wizarding world, and besides, what power do you have to keep me here? I'm going. I'm not asking for your permission, just your blessing. It'll be a lot easier if I know I have somewhere, _someone_ to come home to when it's all over." She told them softly.

Her parents stared back at her with silent, saddened faces. She could see tears in her mother's eyes. "Hermione please," the older woman muttered, "Just walk away, come back to us. We'll pretend that none of this ever happened; maybe we could even have our memories erased. You could go to university and-"

Hermione faced her mother incredulously. "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" she shouted. "How could you ask me to turn my back on everything that I know, everything that I am? Magic isn't some pastime or hobby, Mum; it's a part of me, of my life! I _am_ magic!"

"It could all be erased; we could go back to living safe and happy. You wouldn't have to remember any of it, any of what you've been through or suffered. Any of the people you've met-"

"Stop!" Hermione shouted as tears streaked down her own cheeks and she threw her hands over her ears. "I can't turn my back on them Mother! I won't! I hate you for asking it of me." She rose from her seat at the kitchen table and faced both her parents in the ultimate defiance, "I will do what I have to and you can't stop me this time. Maybe one day you'll understand and accept all of this. If not…well then I'm sorry for hurting you. I love you both so much, but…there's more to me than my Muggle life. I wish I could make you understand."

"We want to, Princess." Her father whispered. She was dismayed to find tears in his eyes as well.

"I know you do." She nodded. She took a deep breath, "I'm leaving for the Burrow tomorrow for Bill's wedding. You can come if you like. Harry, Ron and I will most likely leave from there." She whispered.

"We have to work, we can't make the wedding. Too short of notice," her mother sighed.

"Right," Hermione nodded, "So then this…"

"…This is goodbye," Her mother finished for her.

"Not forever." Hermione sighed. "We're going to try to be home for Christmas at the very least. You can call Molly anytime you want, she's assured me. I'll do my best to check in but…yes," she said, finally acknowledging her biggest fear, "This is goodbye."

Hermione stared pensively out the window of Ron's bedroom and choked on a small sob as she heard the pain in her mother's voice over and over again. _This is goodbye_. And it was. It really was goodbye. She didn't know yet if it was for a day, for a week, for months or years. It might even be a forever goodbye.

"'Mione?" she heard a familiar and yet foreign voice whisper. She opened her mouth to reply but only managed another strangled sob. Warm arms encircled her. "It's gonna be okay, 'Mione." Ron muttered into her ear. She'd never heard him sound so sure of himself. His confidence and maturity, she realized, were what made his voice so different to her ears.

"What if I really never see them again?" She sobbed suddenly, brokenly, giving voice to her fears and anguish.

"Do you trust me?" Ron asked her, pulling back to look into her eyes. She met his stunning blue gaze and tried to collect herself. His voice may have changed, he may have grown up, but his face was always something she knew, even in the dark she could see it. His mussed red hair falling down to his forehead, his ocean blue eyes, his lop-sided grin calculating the world, and of course, his smattering of freckles which were her own star map home. She knew each feature by heart.

"Of course I trust you," she told him once she'd gained some control of her voice.

"Then hear this," he whispered, cupping her face in his hands gently and holding her gaze. "I will get you home to your parents, Hermione, I promise."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep." She told him.

"I never do." He replied gently.

Hermione watched from her place at one of the several round tables, seated between Ron and Ginny as happy couple moved about the dance floor. She smiled at the joyfulness on everyone's faces. This is what she would go to war for. More moments like this. Ron coughed carefully and rose from his seat turning to her, the tips of his ears gone red. "May I have this dance?" He asked gently.

"I thought you'd never ask." She nodded, taking his hand without any of her previous hesitations. Belatedly she remembered that Ginny was depressed and turned back to ask if it was okay for her to leave. Ginny only smiled and nodded towards the dance floor with a knowing smirk.

As Ron wrapped his arms around her waist she gazed up into those entrancing blue eyes of his and sighed. "I've figured it out." She told him softly.

"What?" He asked in honest curiosity.

"I've figured out why I'm going, why I have to go with you and Harry."

"You didn't know before now?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I did, I suppose. I mean, deep down I've always known that things wouldn't be the same for the three of us, that we'd never have a normal life. But…I've just finally understood what I'm fighting for."

"And what is that?" He asked.

"For people like us, Ron." She told him.

"People like us?" he asked.

She nodded. "People who always knew where their heart belonged but took too damn long to admit it." She chuckled softly, "People who were afraid of admitting their feelings and then never got the chance to. I'm fighting so that I can give them the time we weren't given to become who they were destined to be." She finished in a whisper.

For several moments she stared into Ron's shoulder, afraid to meet his gaze. She had still not worked up the courage when she felt one of his hands leave her waist. She began to panic. Had she scared him away? But then his warm fingers brushed her cheek and then gripped her chin gently and turned her face to meet his.

"I think that's a pretty damn important thing to fight for." He told her before he captured her lips in a searing kiss that promised, if not eternity, at least a tomorrow.


	2. His Something To Fight For

**Story: **Promising Kisses

**Author: **QueenyC

**Summary: **As the war looms ahead and the world is caving in, four young lovers find solace in one last dance and one last, promising kiss.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the plot and even that isn't terribly original. 

**Chapter Two**

**His Something to Fight For**

The wedding had been beautiful in spite of the looming sense of dread that hung over the world. It was as if everyone in her family was putting their all into making this day perfect, as if they all knew there wouldn't be another one for a very long time.

Her dress, despite all of her grumbling, wasn't really as horrendous as she'd expected it to be. When Fleur had said the word 'gold' she had nearly had a heart attack, but putting it on it wasn't the metallic color that she'd expected. It was actually quite perfect and all worth it to see Harry's eyes light up as she walked down the aisle.

Now she sat at one of the several round tables that stood around the expansive dance floor her father had 'constructed' out in their backyard. There was some French girl band that Fleur had apparently requested playing on a stage directly across from her. Bill danced serenely with his new wife. She couldn't remember ever seeing her brother look so happy.

All around the happy couple were smiling faces and swaying bodies. Her mother and father moved, not necessarily to the beat of the music, smiling at each other like teenagers in love. Ron had finally gotten up the nerve to ask Hermione to dance and she was grinning brightly, even though he had probably stepped on each and every one of her poor toes.

She scanned the dance floor for the face she wanted most and, not too surprisingly, located him at the very edge of the massive tent-like structure that had been set up in the case of bad weather. He was leaning carefully against one of the wide posts with his dark, messy hair falling into his brilliant green eyes as they focused on nothing in particular, though occasionally she noticed them drift over to the laughing Ron and Hermione. He'd smiled gently, almost like a proud father, and then a shadow would fall over his face and he'd continue his survey of the world around him.

Finally, figuring she'd be the good hostess, she rose to her feet carefully and discreetly approached him, the boy she loved. When she stood only a few feet from him she paused, unsure now that she was there, exactly what she was planning to say. He turned to meet her gaze carefully.

"Ginny." He whispered in greeting. She closed her eyes for a moment at the sound of her name on his lips; it always sent shivers up and down her spine the way he said it.

"Harry." She acknowledged watching him return his gaze to his two best friends. She bit her lip in hesitation and then said, "Isn't it funny how people never see what's right in front of them?"

Harry studied her for a moment before he nodded, "Yes. Ron and 'Mione look really happy though."

"I wasn't talking about them." She whispered.

"I know." He nodded turning back to her.

She closed her eyes tight to shut out her emotions. Why was this so hard? "Were you planning on joining the party at any point tonight?" She asked more to end the silence than out of actual curiosity. She thought she already knew the answer.

He shrugged in response. She sighed and turned to leave when his voice halted her retreat, "You look great, Gin." He whispered softly. She stiffened. He said it in such a sad way that it sounded like it was a physically painful admission.

"So do you." She replied, turning back to face him. He opened his mouth to respond and then shut it, looking down at his feet again. "Why must you make this so difficult?" She sighed angrily.

His eyes lit up in what might have been anger, "Do you think I enjoy pushing you away?" he scoffed quietly. "Honestly Gin, you are the _best_ thing to ever happen to me. How could you think this doesn't kill me too?"

"Then why _do it_?" She hissed in her own angry response. _This is not the time for this, you may not see him again after this night,_ a voice in her mind whispered, but she was too distraught and too angry to take heed of it now. She wanted answers.

"To protect you!" He said forcefully, still in that quiet way he had.

"You're protecting me from Voldemort, Harry, but who will protect me from _you_!" she spat, mindful to keep her voice down so that they didn't disrupt the other guests. "_You're_ the one who has broken my heart, my spirit! It's _you_ who has hurt me the most, Harry, it's _you_!"

She watched him close his eyes against her verbal assault and smiled in twisted satisfaction. Perhaps she'd cut him like he had her. When he opened his eyes though, the sadness written there was enough to break any heart, "Ginny, you can hate me forever if you'd like to. I'd rather you hate me and be alive then love me and be dead."

Now she closed her eyes against his stinging words and felt a tear squeeze free and slip down her cheek. His familiar, calloused hand brushed it away. "I couldn't hate you, Harry, even if I _did_ want to." She whispered as she pressed his hand harder to her cheek. "This would all be so much easier if I could, but I guess I'll love you forever."

"I love you too, you know." He muttered gently into her ear. She opened her eyes to find he'd moved much closer to her, close enough to feel his breath on her forehead. He pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Just for tonight," she whispered into his chest desperately, "Just for this moment, let's pretend that we're some other couple. Let's pretend it's easy. Let's just dance until the morning comes, please."

She felt Harry nodding into her hair, his breath on her skin as he moved his hands down to her waist and she wrapped hers around his neck as she swayed to some muggle song that she presumed Hermione had requested.

She looked up into Harry's stunning, entrancing eyes and for that moment there was nobody else around. For that song she could really believe that maybe this night would last forever and she'd never have to let him walk out of her life. If she just held him a little tighter and begged a little harder the heavens would take pity on the young lovers and she would get just a little more time. Another hopeful tear streaked down her cheeks and this time Harry kissed it away.

"I'd stay like this forever." She told him.

"I'd hold you as long as you asked." He replied.

"Then hold me tonight, don't let me go." She pleaded, choking back a sob. "Maybe if we both beg hard enough this night will never end. Maybe you'll never leave me."

Harry looked down at her carefully, "Don't give up on me okay? Not even Voldemort can keep me from you forever. I'll win this, if only to come back for our own wedding dance." He whispered.

She smiled sadly, unsure of what to say. She was his something to fight for and she finally understood. He needed to believe she was safe and that she was waiting and that she'd never give up on him, on this moment.

"I'll be here, Harry, as long as it takes." She told him, pulling him down into a kiss. It was kiss full of promises and hopes and dreams and it would have to hold her together until she could have him at her side forever. It was a kiss that pledged, if not eternity, at least tonight.


End file.
